As you can imagine, there are many people who feel enraged and insulted that Apple would have the audacity to lower the price of the iPhone by $200 so soon after launch. It’s been one of the hot topics in the news today, and some people were suggesting that Apple should offer a $200 refund to all those early-adopters who feel they were ripped-off. Some have called it shady saying that Apple just wanted to make some quick cash. While there’s the crowd of people upset, there’s another crowd that’s nearly as equal in number saying that’s what you get for being an early adopter of a product that was so highly anticipated.

USA Today sat down with Steve Jobs to talk to him about the price drop of the iPhone. One of the first things that he was asked was, "What do you say to customers who just bought a new iPhone for $599? Sorry?" His response was "That’s technology. If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well that’s what happens in technology." So all those hoping Jobs would give in and offer a refund have their confirmation that it’s not going to happen.

–How to handle the situation–

Over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog, they posted an article titled "Apple Screwed you: So now what?" which offers suggestions on how to handle the situation. Among the suggestions are:

Returns – if you bought it within 14 days, you can either return the item or you can request a credit for the difference.

Call AT&T – you may get lucky with a rep who’ll offer you some amount of credit on your line.

Complain – I’m pretty sure most people have this one under control. They are complaining like crazy, and if you really wanted, you could write a letter to Apple with your complaints.

Call the store – ask if they’ll issue a refund for the difference – even if it was bought beyond the 14 days. Chances are, they’ll say no, but you never know.

–Fake Steve Jobs Says…–

I knew Fake Steve would have something enlightening to say about this whole price drop situation, which he did. You can read the entire thing here, I’ll just point out the highlights of his post:

"Dear early iPhone adopters: Yeah, we fu%*ed you. Sorry, but it’s true. We baited you in with a high price (the one thing no Apple fanboy can resist) and sure enough you fell for it just like we knew you would. But hey, you iTards were the ones lining up and camping out for a week to get a phone even though there was no shortage of them. You were the ones raving about what a bargain the phone was at $600 and how you’d gladly have paid more. Who can blame us for taking advantage of you?"

There Are 8 Comments

-You can buy a share of Apple stock today and tomorrow it could be $10 or $20 lower. -Buy gasoline today at $2.75 and tomorrow it could be $2.45. -Buy a Wii on ebay today at $350 and tomorrow it can be $250.

It’s called supply and demand.

The fact that Apple is lowering the price means the demand for a $600 phone is no longer there. Surely they would love to sell zillions of them at $600, but they can’t. So they adjust the price to where they can move it.

You want to be the first one to get the new ‘toys’ you are going to pay more. When the novelty wears off or the next model comes out the price drops. Put it this way, “If you were idiot enough to pay $599 for an over-glorified camera phone and media player in one, then you got what you deserved.” :P

I don’t think that he had any reason to give these people any credit, because cell phones always drop rapidly in price. That’s just the type of market it is, but it is people’s right to complain and they will indeed do so.

I bought an iPhone in July and paid the $599 and yesterdday, I was upset, but figured oh well, I thought it was worth the price then and still do and while I wish I had paid less, again oh well, but this $100 store credit may just convince me to give a Mac PC a try which is hard to say for a diehard PC fan who adopted Vista early on and I do love vista, but I have many Mac fans trying to get me to switch and this offer from Apple, makes me like Apple more. Do I think Apple should have refunded? No, but glad that they are offering a store credit anyway. :D

I bought an iPhone in July and paid the $599 and yesterdday, I was upset, but figured oh well, I thought it was worth the price then and still do and while I wish I had paid less, again oh well, but this $100 store credit may just convince me to give a Mac PC a try which is hard to say for a diehard PC fan who adopted Vista early on and I do love vista, but I have many Mac fans trying to get me to switch and this offer from Apple, makes me like Apple more. Do I think Apple should have refunded? No, but glad that they are offering a store credit anyway. :D

Okay, now you’re one of the few who I think deserves the refund. You were okay with cutting your loses and didn’t get all upset over it. You’ve earned my respect.